Image provided by: SEIU Local 503; Salem, OR
About The Oregon public employe. (Salem, Oregon) 1981-???? | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1981)
S P E C IA L REPORT S P E C IA L REPORT America’s fastest growing occupational hazard Joanne is a clerical assistant. Her story is one that is becoming com monplace in offices across the country. “ Shortly after beginning my job working at a terminal (video display terminal) I began to have eye strain. But I'm not one to complain much, so I didn’t say anything. After six months though, my vision was ter ribly blurred. It got so that I couldn't look from the (VDT) screen to my paper. “ I got glasses and that cleared up my blurred vision, but I still have sore eyes and headaches by the end of the day." Andrea is an adm inistrative assistant. She too spends most of her day working at a VDT. "The stress from working at one of these machines really builds up — bigger workloads, backaches and daily eye strain.” She adds, “ I used to see street signs clearly from a great distance; now when I drive home after work all the street signs are fuzzy." Lynda, another clerical assistant, tells of similar problems. “ Every day that I work my eyes are sore by noon. By evening, my eyes are watering and I have a headache — not just sometimes, but every night after work. I know ft's (caused by) the VDT's, because I don’t have eye problems or headaches on weekends. “ One thing that really bugs me is that we hdve to keep the lights down low now, when I get home from work — when they're brighter, like we used to have them, they hurt my eyes.” Video display terminals (VDTs), are revolutionizing offices across America. By greatly increasing the speed and capacity for information storage and retrieval; and by significantly reducing the need for paper, pens and files; productivity is increased tremendously when these' Possible solutions The first step towards a safe and healthful workplace for VDT operators is taken when workers decide to learn how to recognize and evaluate hazards. The second step is then to do something about those hazards. Here are a few suggestions from health specialists concerning the major problems VDT operators must deal with. EYE FATIGUE One excellent administrative control for preventing eye strain is to provide VDT operators with a 15-minute break every hour or a 30-minute break every two hours. This gives operators a chance to rest their eyes by viewing at greater distances. Rest periods should be taken away from the machines and oper ators should perform simple body and eye exercises. Page machines (also known as CRTs) are installed. But as has been the case with many other technological advances, their introduction into the work place has progressed much faster than research and standards for health and safety. Even though there is no standard in the Occupational Health and Safety Act that applies to hazairds of working with VDTs, complaints are being heard from all parts o f the country. Here are some of the most common: ► Soreness, redness, stinging, it ching, irritation and general discom fort of the eyes; ► Loss of visual acuity — including blurred and double images, and im ages that are fuzzy or that have col ored edges; ► Problems with eyeglasses and contact Jenses; ► Headaches — including m i graines and dull continuous aches above the eyes; ► Pains in the neck and lower and upper back; ► Nausea; ► Dizziness; and ► Increased sense of stress, ir ritability and anxiety. Added to th is is a less widespread, but potentially more worrisome concern about exposure to low-level x-ray and microwave radiation and radio frequencies which may damage genes. “ A definite hazard does exist,” says David LeGrande, a safety ad visor for the Com m unications Workers of America. “ I see it (VDT Safety) becoming one of the most significant bargaining issues of the future for unions that represent w o rk e rs w ho o p e ra te th e s e machines." The National Institute for Occupa tional Safety and Health (NIOSH) is the first federal agency to confirm that health hazards do exist. In a Another good administrative control for eye strain is for operators to alternate an hour of screen work with an hour of another kind of work that allows viewing from greater distances and greater body movement. GLARE VDT machines should be equipped with non-reflective glass screens to minimize glare on the screen. Special clip-on glass screens are available for some machines. Plastic covers that reduce glare should be avoided, because they reduce image clari ty- Screen glare can also be pre vented by installing blinds or awn in g s on n e a rb y w in d o w s , relocating machines for better light exposure, relocating lighting fixtures, installation of indirect lighting or eliminating or dimming overhead lighting (however, care must be taken to not make printed copy difficult to read). Some operators have invented successful home-made solutions to the glare problem, such as card W ARNING: WORKING AT T H IS MACHINE MAY CAUSE EYE PROBLEM S. HEADACHES• POSTURAL PROBLEMS . I STRESS . . h ’ ll 1 f 11 111 11 \ I I l l. l. study conducted at Blue Shield of California and three newspapers, it found significantly higher levels of blurred vision, color perception dif ficulties, sore shoulders, numbness, anxiety, irritability, depression and exhaustion than in control groups. Government standards for ma chine manufacture, maintenance and operation are expected to be released for public comment th it year, according to a NIOSV. spokesperson. The most common problem! associated with VDTs are the result of a number of often interrelated factors. A major cause of eye strain is fatigue of the muscles in the eye; in cluding the oculomotor muscles (which move the eyes from side to side and up and down), the iris muscles (which adjust the size of the pupil to varying light intensity), and the ciliary muscles (which com press the eye lens for clear focusing at close distances). board visors above the screen. CONTRAST GLARE Contrast glare (caused by a view ing screen against a background that is too bright), can be reduced or eliminated by dimming light sources, changing the location of the machine, painting or covering the facing wall in a color or texture that reflects fess light or installing a non-reflective partition behind the machine. Wearing sunglasses is a poor solution to the problem, because their use can lead to other eye pro blems. SCREEN SIZE AND COLOR It is best to have a screen that is at least 7x9 inches, at a viewing distance of more than two feet Character height should be a least 3/16 of an inch. Research has not yet estat lished the best colors for screen; and characters, and different opei ators show different preferences However, the colors generall recommended are a very daf l . v aw All three sets of muscles get ab normally strained use when a per son must view a VDT screen for seven or more hours a day. Another significant contributor to eye strain, as well as to neck and back pains is glare on the VDT screen. This is produced by light from windows, shiny work surfaces, lighting that is too bright or that is incorrectly positioned in relation to the machines, or a background (in re la tio n to the term in al) th a t is to o bright. To compensate, operators often lower their heads to block the offen sive light and raise their eyes in order to look at the screen. This can cause neck and back problems. In addition, the iris muscles are put under an abnormal strain. Lack of image clarity, flickering images and a constant high-pitched whine — three mechanical condi tions found in most terminals — have also been associated with stress, anxiety, irritability and eye green screen with light green or yellow characters, or a black screen with white characters. CORRECTIVE LENSES Operators who wear corrective lenses should inform their eye doctors that they work on VDTs. There are two reasons. First, operators who use bifocal lenses must lean forward, be cause these lenses are designed for reading at a distance of 12 in ches. Operators who need glasses for reading should be fitted with special lenses for use at VDT machines. Second, because of increased eye strain, persons with corrective lenses of any type usually need to have their prescription changed more than normal. It is recommended that VDT operators have eye exams before starting their jobs and subsequent exams every six months. These ex ams should be paid for by the employer and under no c ir cumstances should they be used in hiring or job-perform ance evaluations. strain. Another'cause of eye strain and postural problems are small viewing screens. To save money and space, many machines have small screens. In order to squeeze the same amount of information onto these screens as are put onto large ones, character size is reduced. At normal viewing distances, these smaller characters are difficult to read. Eye strain results, causing the operator to lean forward to compensate. Beside eye strain and postural problems numerous other condi tions combine to make VDT opera tion stressful work. These include noise, job pressures, overcrowded workspaces and supervisors who are either uninformed or unsym- pathetc to problems encountered by VDT operators. Operators alm ost universally state that while their overall produc tivity has increased, their efficiency slowly deteriorates each day as job pressures from* supervisors and other employes increases. VDTs also produce heat and noise (especially when they are used in conjunction with word- processing machines). Both add to overall stress. Stress is a particular problem in overcrowded offices and in offices where machines are poorly posi tioned. One researcher has found that as the number of machines in an office increases, operators sometimes become even more alienated from their jobs than assembly-line workers. Working on VDTs is demanding — it often requires intense concen tration and is psychologically tax ing. One state office worker likened working on a VDT to sitting in front of your television set watching movie credits for seven-and-a-half hours a day.' All of these factors, and many others, multiply each other’s effect. POSTURE Sitting in a fixed position for a long time, is tiring and has been linked to muscle strain, varicose veins and hemmorhoids. This is particularly true of VDT operators, who hold a constant head, neck, body and eye position. However, some working postures are less fatiguing than others. The most comfortable position is to sit facing the keyboard, lean ing slightly back so the back of the chair supports the middle of the back, and with the eyes looking slightly downward. To accom modate this position, the height and angle of the screen, as well as the height of the back support of the chair, should be adjustable to fit operators’ different heights and preferred viewing angles. MACHINE MAINTENANCE It is essential that VDTs be checked by a qualified technician at least twice a year in order to reduce image blurring and possi ble radiation emission. Periodic replacement of the cathode ray tube is also necessary.' y Physical fatigue makes people tired and irritable, which in turn makes stresses more difficult to tolerate. Potentially the most dangerous problems though, are those associ ated with radiation. VDT manufacturers contend that machine parts that produce radia tion are effectively shielded and point to industry and government studies showing that radiation does not escape at levels that endanger operators dr nearby workers. But these te sts have been challenged by unions and indepen dent health specialists because most machines have not been tested and in the tests that were conducted, measurements for some radiation frequencies were not in cluded. The most startling evidence to date though, involves operators in the classified advertising section of the Toronto Star. Last summer, four women who worked full-time on VDTs had babies with birth defects. By contrast, none of the 10 other saleswomen with children born be tween May 1979 and May 1980 had worked as intensively on VDTs. An investigation by the provincial government couldn’t detect any measurable radiation from the paper’s 294 terminals. However, one employe told the Wall Street Journal that she re m ains d o u b tfu l. “ None of those machines give off enough radiation at a time to harm, but I wonder about the cumulative effects of the radiation,” said Kathy Howlings, whose son was born with a nearly fatal heart defect. Citing the fact that asbestos workers didn’t develop a serious lung condi tion called asbestosis for years after exposure at work, she added, “ It just seems like we’re going to be the asbestosis people of the future.” A fu ll record of m achine maintenance should be kept and workers should have access to the maintenance log. RADIATION Some of the adminsitrative con trols useful in protecting against, eye strain, such as alternating periods on the machine and peri ods doing other work, would also reduce possible exposure to radia tion. Machines should be spaced so that operators are not sitting near other machinés, since whatever radiation exposure there is will be multiplied by the number of nearby machines. Exposure decreases when the machine is farther away. Issuing lead aprons to operators who request them is an idea of dubious value, since the head and eyes would remain unprotected and the apron could cause dis comfort and postural problems. Suggestions that manufactur ers be required to install lead layers, similar to those already mandatory in television sets, may have considerable value. Page 7
